


Star Shower

by Burgie



Series: The High School AU of Fluff and Good Things [11]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 18:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18666016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: When Daine's anxiety won't let him sleep, his boyfriend comes to the rescue. Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	Star Shower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts).



Daine wondered if he’d ever get familiar with staring at his bedroom ceiling in the middle of the night. It was a familiar enough sight, he guessed. Staring at the shadows thrown by the streetlights, wondering what was shadow and what was spider and what was some demon sent to get him. Of course, in the daylight, he could convince himself that there were no demons. And of course there weren’t, those weren’t real. But in the middle of the night, when anxiety gripped him so tightly that his chest and throat constricted, when all he could hear was the sound of his heart thumping in his ears, when his body shivered even though it wasn’t cold? At that time, it was harder to believe in logic. Better to believe that there was some tangible reason for his fear, and not just his brain, his own body, betraying him. Not that he ever told anyone about this.

Finally unfreezing, Daine reached for his phone, lying on his nightstand. He pressed the home button and ran his thumb across the cracked screen, quickly thumbing in his passcode. The floorboards outside of his bedroom door creaked, causing Daine to thrust the phone and himself beneath the covers as his phone background proudly displayed his handsome boyfriend in full Greatest Showman attire. It had been the school musical this year, with Ydris playing the lead role, of course. Daine strained his ears to see if anyone was coming, but he couldn’t hear anything over his own heartbeat and too-sharp breaths. He was trembling so much that he could barely find his contacts, and he had to check three times before determining that his phone was, indeed, on silent mode, with no vibrations or tones to disturb the night air and alert anyone to his presence.

The message, when it popped up onto his phone, scared Daine so much that he almost screamed and did emit a strange strangled squeak. Heart pounding, he saw that it was from Ydris and his body sagged in relief. He was sweating, still shaking.

“What are you still doing up?” Ydris sent to him.

“How’d you know?” Daine responded, grateful to autocorrect for existing. He didn’t trust his shaking hands or his eyes with his dyslexia at the moment.

“Discord,” Ydris sent back. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“What are you doing up?” Daine responded. He didn’t even want to tell Ydris about his fear. He loved and trusted his boyfriend, yes, but… his fear wouldn’t let him tell his boyfriend everything. He’d always just fobbed it off as family issues. Which was true, but not the whole truth.

“There is said to be a meteor shower tonight,” Ydris sent back, along with the link to a website. Daine followed the link, his eyes skimming over letters that danced everywhere. He wanted to watch the attached video, but he didn’t quite want to leave his safe little blanket nest to fumble in the top drawer of his nightstand for his headphones. That would make too much noise, anyway.

“At 3AM? Couldn’t they make it more,” Daine typed, before trying several words. Frowning and cursing his dyslexia, he erased the message to read “At 3AM?”

“Unfortunately for us, the stars do not obey the whims of mere mortals, nor do they obey proper sleep schedules,” Ydris responded. Daine closed his eyes against the jumping letters, tears sliding down his face.

“Tell me later,” Daine responded, hoping that his tears wouldn’t transfer through text. “Pick me up?”

In answer, Ydris sent a picture of his keys, complete with the purple amethyst attached to the keychain. Daine closed his eyes, biting his lip against tears as he sent back a single heart emoji of gratitude.

Carefully, Daine crawled out from underneath his blankets, padding across to his window to climb out. But then, feeling the slight chill in the air, he returned to grab his jacket from the back of his desk chair. He remembered a time when he’d sketched at his desk, but not anymore. Not when the pages were filled with one male face after another. One more than others, actually.

After pulling his jacket on and his backpack, Daine carefully inched his bedroom window open and climbed out onto the roof. He knew how to keep his footsteps silent now, though his parents usually blamed a cat. Fitting, then, that he’d drawn himself with cat-like features a few times. He could even climb a tree like one, though he had a decidedly easier time getting back down.

Now, as Daine dropped lightly to his feet, his sneakers muffling most of the sound, he left his yard and jogged as quietly as he could down the sidewalk until he saw a long purple sports car with the vanity plate ‘WZARD’ illuminated by a streetlamp.

The passenger door opened as Daine approached the car, and the sight of his boyfriend’s face illuminated by the car’s interior brought a smile to Daine’s face at last.

“Your carriage awaits,” said Ydris, a smile on his handsome face as he gestured to the seat.

“Let me guess, my carriage to the stars?” Daine asked, smirking as he took his seat and pulled the door closed behind him before pulling the seatbelt across. His backpack was at his feet, where he could easily reach his sketchbook on the off chance that the urge to draw struck him.

“You know me well,” said Ydris, chuckling as he pulled his own seatbelt back across then started the engine. The roar of it comforted Daine, even as his heart jolted in his chest at the volume of it.

“I’m dating a drama queen,” said Daine, raising his voice slightly to be heard above the roar of the engine. Ydris chuckled.

“However did you come to that conclusion, Daniel?” Ydris asked, lips curving up into a smirk.

“Beats me,” said Daine, leaning back into his seat. But, despite how good it felt to be in this car with Ydris, heading away from his home, Daine still felt tense. Anxiety thrummed through his body, speeding his pulse, making his stomach roil, his mouth taste coppery, parts of his body numb. At a set of lights, Ydris reached across the centre console and took Daine’s hand in his own, uncurling clenched fingers. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to. But Daine barely felt the touch. His teeth were almost chattering, and at his shivering, Ydris turned the heater on.

“It occurred to me, as I was driving over, that you perhaps could not read my message about the meteor shower,” said Ydris. Daine nodded, glad that he was at least able to move his head. But it felt robotic. He felt like he’d been turned into stone in the position that he was sitting in.

“You know I can’t read,” said Daine, his voice cracking slightly. Fuck. Hopefully Ydris would put it down to puberty.

“Yes, I simply forgot in my excitement,” said Ydris. “I apologise deeply and profoundly.”

“Please don’t get on your knees and beg my forgiveness,” said Daine, closing his eyes. “It’s fine.” Ydris didn’t make a quip like he usually would, for which Daine was glad.

“There is a meteor shower happening over Jorvik City tonight,” said Ydris, driving with only one hand on the wheel. Daine’s anxiety wanted him to let go of Ydris’ hand so that he could have both hands on the wheel, but another part of Daine felt like he’d fall apart if he didn’t have that physical touch tethering him to reality.

“Yeah, I gathered that much,” said Daine. “Only I couldn’t read the website or watch the video. My headphones were in my bag and I didn’t feel like getting out of bed to get them.” A lie was much easier than the truth. Easier to tell, easier to swallow.

“You can watch it now,” said Ydris. “I promise it won’t distract me.”

“I trust you,” said Daine, leaning forward to rummage in his backpack for his phone. He turned the volume up and then sat back to watch the video, though he returned his hand to Ydris’. According to the video, the meteor shower was known as Pandorian Mist, named after an old folk tale. According to some conspiracy theorists, the meteor shower would cause bad things to happen, great evil. Daine chose not to believe that. His anxiety already told him that every second of every day, he didn’t need some doomsdayers making it even worse.

“And as for my followup message,” said Ydris once the video had ended and Daine had locked his phone again. “I said that the stars do not obey the whims of mere mortals. Unfortunately.”

“For once, I’m glad,” said Daine. Maybe the show would calm his anxiety and let him slip into the welcome embrace of sleep.

The drive to the best lookout point for the shower took a long time. Long enough that slowly, Daine’s body relaxed. Anxiety released its grip on him, bit by bit. But it still took a long time for him to really feel the warmth of Ydris’ gentle grip on his hand. And then, they were there. It was a field outside of town, apparently owned by a family of farmers known as the Summers. They’d allowed people to come into their field to watch the shower, being good friends with Mario, a local astronomer.

“Allo, Daine! Ydris!” Mario called, waving to them once the two boys got out of the car. Daine raised his hand in a wave with a faint smile, his emotions warring at the sight of the man. Once, he’d wanted to be like Mario. But he was too stupid to read, how could he be an astronomer, much less an astronaut?

“Mario, my friend,” said Ydris, walking over to give the man a handshake. “Tell me, where might be the best place to watch this star shower?”

“Anywhere in this field, so long as you are on your back,” said Mario. “Some people have brought trucks to lie in the bed, while others have picnic blankets or even some mattresses.”

“Think we could lie on the roof of your car?” Daine asked before he could stop himself. Ydris looked at him, pursing his lips as he frowned at his car. “Or we could just lie on the ground, I just-“

“Well, short of climbing on top of the Summers barn, which I do not wish to do, that is the highest point around,” said Ydris. He nodded. “I know that you’ll be careful not to scratch the paint.”

Daine took a few steps towards his boyfriend, feeling safe enough to stand on his toes and kiss his taller boyfriend out here under the stars.

Before Daine could climb up, though, Ydris spread a blanket from his car onto the roof so that it wouldn’t be quite so cold. Then, carefully, Daine climbed up, followed by Ydris. As Daine settled close to Ydris, his heart still thumping, he could faintly hear the sound of the car radio filtering up towards them.

“Remember when we first met  
You said light my cigarette  
So I lied to my mom and dad  
I jumped the fence and I ran”

As the song played, Daine found his eyes glued to Ydris’ face. He looked beautiful in the moonlight, his face like the palest cream, his blue eye seeming almost to glow.

“I know that I am beautiful, Daniel, but the real show is about to begin,” Ydris murmured. Blushing, Daine finally tore his eyes away, but he didn’t move away from Ydris. Instead, Daine settled his head on Ydris’ chest, hearing the reassuring thump of Ydris’ heart beneath his ear, feeling the gentle rise and fall of Ydris’ chest as he breathed.

And, as he gazed up at the stars and Ydris’ fingers stroked gently through Daine’s curly black hair, the show did begin. Daine’s breath caught in his throat, his golden eyes glossy as he beheld the sight. Hundreds of meteors streaked across the sky, shooting stars leaving mysterious trails of pink and purple. On a whim, he made a wish, closing his eyes for the briefest of moments. Maybe it wouldn’t come true. He’d definitely never tell anyone what it was. Ydris’ arm went around Daine, bringing him closer still. And Ydris dipped his head to whisper his own wish into Daine’s ear.

“I wish that you someday find happiness and peace, Daniel,” Ydris whispered, the words bringing tears to Daine’s eyes at how close it had come to his own wish. The wish to run away and live with Ydris. Someday. But not yet. Not when fear still gripped him at the very idea.

Lacing his fingers with Ydris’, Daine trained his eyes to the sky and let the sight melt his anxiety away. The universe was so big. So wonderful. His fears were nothing, in the face of everything. Besides, naming the constellations silently in his mind helped Daine calm down. It always did. As did the heady, cotton candy scent of Ydris. Here, just for a few moments, he could feel okay.

And he would still feel okay, later, when he woke up to dawn light touching his face through the windscreen as he sat in the passenger seat of Ydris’ car. And Ydris would quickly assure him that Willow and her father would vouch that he’d stayed the night at her place after the friend group had gone for a late night star shower viewing. It wasn’t completely a lie.


End file.
